Had I taken the other road,⠀
Might I still be thinking today,⠀
Had I taken the other road!⠀-Vinitha
This week I read the book The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It was a fantastic read. I finished the book in four days. This book gave me some much-needed perspective.
I started thinking about my other lives where I could be a success in some and a failure in some others.
The more I thought about it, it appeared clear to me. That, this is the life I would be choosing again given the choice. To begin with, I chose this path at one of those crossroads. No matter how much I crib about the lack of my career and other stuff, I love this life. In another life perhaps, I wouldn’t miss waking up to Akku’s hundred questions and his thousand kisses or discussions with Kanna or the banter with my husband. And the many more little pieces of irrelevant moments that make my life different, unique, and livable. But if this life suddenly disappears and turns into the one where I’m a career woman, I would definitely miss all those things. Not only do I miss, but I would also go crazy without all these little things in my life which hold me together.
It is easy to regret the path we didn’t venture into. But this road which we choose for ourselves, there is something magical in here. We chose this when we could’ve easily chosen the other one. We can’t see the magic, or even how this particular life is good for us because as mere mortals we simply can’t see the big picture.
The more I think about the other paths at the crossroads, I realize nothing was going to be a perfect one.
This journey I chose is a marvelous one – that’s what I like to believe!
Written for #SoulfulSunday, an exercise to nourish our creative side, formulated by Esha and supported by Shilpa and yours truly.
Beautiful post, Vinitha! And I think you’re spot on about no one life being the perfect one! There are so many blessings that we have in our present life that we can only appreciate when we see how much they mean to us. The little things as you say, are what makes our life what it is. I have to grab that book now and see what has got you girls so thralled in it. 🙂
So much wisdom here, Vini. The more we’re grateful for what we have, the more we will enjoy it and find meaning through it.
PS: I must get that book – after Anamika and you have vouched for it!
Our chat around the book and this post gives me this perspective that we are here in this present life because this is where we were meant to be. There are certain hardships and a feeling of being taken for granted but every life path would have had something of this sort or the other. None of the paths, no matter which crossraod we would have taken, could have guranteed complete happiness just as we learned from the book’s protagonist’s parallel lives. We still would be working to create our own happiness so why cannot we do so in this present life.